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Billy Gray
Biography Character: Sandy Birthday: January 13, 1938 Place of Birth: Los Angeles, California Date of Death: Place of Death: First Short: Curley Last Short: Curley Number of Shorts: 1 History: William Thomas "Billy" Gray is a former child actor, perhaps best known for playing "Bud" on the popular 1950's sitcom Father Knows Best. Beginning his Hollywood career as a largely uncredited actor in a number of films, Gray was hired by comedy producer Hal Roach to play a member of a new group of Little Rascals in the 1947 film Curley. After his one film with Roach, Gray continued to appear in several films. Among his memorable roles were portraying a younger Jim Thorpe in the 1951 film Jim Thorpe -- All American, an adolescent Bryan Lincoln Foy in 1955's The Seven Little Foys, Bobby Benson in The Day the Earth Stood Still, and a man taking a photograph that could reveal information on Superman's secret identity in the Adventures of Superman episode "Shot in the Dark". In 1954, Gray was hired to play mischievous adolescent Bud Anderson in the television sitcom Father Knows Best, and reprised the role in two 1970's reunion films. After the series' cancellation, Gray appeared in several single-appearance television roles. His last acting role was in the 1996 film The Vampyre Wars. Gray is the co-owner of the company BigRock Engineering, and has invented several products, including a self-massager, high-technology guitar picks, and a candleholder for jack-o-lanterns. A longtime motorcycle aficionado, Gray was a competitive dirt track racer throughout the 1970's and early 1990's. He has also collects several motorcycles, to the point where his home has become a "motorcycle museum". He hopes to revive Class A bike racing with a redesigned diamond-shaped course to permit sharper turns and to make the competition more thrilling. Gray resides in Topanga, California, still living at a house that he purchased during his Father Knows Best days. List of Shorts * Curley Other Projects * Man of Courage (1943) * The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry (1945) * Adventures of Rusty (1945) - with Ace the Wonder Dog * An Angel Comes to Brooklyn (1945) * To Each His Own (1946) * Throw a Saddle on a Star (1946) * Cluny Brown (1946) - with Charles Boyer * One Exciting Week (1946) - with Shemp Howard * Our Old Car (1946) * Suspense (1946) * Rendezvous With Annie (1946) * The Strange Woman (1946) * Backlash (1947) * Little Mister Jim (1947) * Driftwood (1947) - with Carl Switzer and Eilene Janssen * The Fabulous Texan (1947) * The Gangster (1947) * The Bride Goes Wild (1948) - with Eilene Janssen * Fighting Father Dunne (1948) - with Pat O'Brien, Darryl Hickman, and Vincent Graeff * Parlor, Bedroom, and Wrath (1948) * So You Want to Be a Baby Sitter (1949) - with George O'Hanlon (as Joe McDoakes) * Bad Men of Tombstone (1949) * The Judge Steps Out (1949) * Lust for Gold (1949) * So You're Having In-Law Trouble (1949) - with George O'Hanlon (as Joe McDoakes) * The Talented Tramps (1949) * The House Across the Street (1949) * Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff (1949) - with Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, and Boris Karloff * Abandoned (1949) - with Gale Storm and Robert Young * Father Is a Bachelor (1950) * Singing Guns (1950) * The Good Humor Man (1950) - with Gerald Perreau * Kill the Umpire (1950) - with Larry Olsen * In a Lonely Place (1950) - with Humphrey Bogart * Three Little Words (1950) - with Fred Astaire and Red Skelton * Between Midnight and Dawn (1950) * Mister 880 (1950) - with Burt Lancaster * The Gene Autry Show - Season 1, Episode 5 - "The Star Toter" (1950) - with Gene Autry * The Gene Autry Show - Season 1, Episode 17 - "Twisted Trails" (1950) - with Gene Autry * The Killer That Stalked New York (1950) * Hurricane at Pilgrim Hill (1950) * Sierra Passage (1950) * Gene Autry and the Mounties (1951) - with Gene Autry * So You Want to Be a Cowboy (1951) - with George O'Hanlon (as Joe McDoakes) * Her First Romance (1951) * On Moonlight Bay (1951) * The Guy Who Came Back (1951) * Jim Thorpe -- All-American (1951) - with Burt Lancaster * The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) * Talk About a Stranger (1952) - with Nancy Reagan * Gruen Guild Theater - Season 2, Episode 5 - "A Boy Wears a Gun" (1952) * The Return of Gilbert & Sullivan (1952) * Celanese Theatre - Season 1, Episode 20 - "On Borrowed Time" (1952) * Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair (1952) - Kettle Boy - with Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride * Chevron Theatre - Season 1, Episode 31 - Lesson in Hot Lead (1952) * Racket Squad - Season 3, Episode 1 - "Check and Double Check" (1952) * The Schaefer Century Theatre - Season 1, Episode 13 - "Lesson in Hot Lead" (1952) * By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953) * The Girl Next Door (1953) * All I Desire (1953) * Your Play Time - Season 1, Episode 5 - "Lesson in Hot Lead" (1953) * Adventures of Superman - Season 2, Episode 5 - "Shot in the Dark" (1953) - with George Reeves * Father Knows Best (1954-1962) * Doggie in the Bedroom (1954) * Fireside Theatre - Season 6, Episode 20 - "The First Prize" (1954) * Cavalcade of America - Season 2, Episode 22 - "Young Andy Jackson" (1954) * The Loretta Young Show - Season 1, Episode 34 - "Dear Madge" (1954) * Annie Oakley - Season 1, Episode 21 - "Bull's Eye" (1954) * The Outlaw Stallion (1954) * The Seven Little Foys (1955) - with Bob Hope * TV Reader's Digest - Season 2, Episode 25 - "The Secret Weapon of Joe Smith" (1955) * The Scarlet Hour (1956) * The Thin Man - Season 1, Episode 4 - "Come Back Darling Asta" (1957) - with Peter Lawford * Peter Gunn - Season 2, Episode 34 - "The Semi-Private Eye" (1960) * Stagecoach West - Season 1, Episode 3 - "Dark Return" (1960) * Bachelor Father - Season 4, Episode 15 - "Ginger's Big Romance" (1960) * The Deputy - Season 2, Episode 24 - "Two-Way Deal" (1961) - with Henry Fonda * G.E. True Theatre - Season 9, Episode 15 - "The Drop-Out" (1961) - with Ronald Reagan and Edward G. Robinson * G.E. True Theatre - Season 9, Episode 24 - "Sis Bowls 'Em Over" (1961) - with Ronald Reagan * Alfred Hitchcock Presents - Season 7, Episode 1 - "The Hatbox" (1961) - with Alfred Hitchcock * The Explosive Generation (1961) - with William Shatner * The Red Skelton Hour - Season 12, Episode 1 - "Somebody Up There Should Stay There" (1962) - with Red Skelton, Harpo Marx, and Jack Benny * The Greatest Show on Earth - Season 1, Episode 16 - "Corsicans Don't Cry" (1964) * Arrest and Trial - Season 1, Episode 26 - "Tigers Are for Jungles" (1964) * Rawhide - Season 7, Episode 17 - "Moment in the Sun" (1965) - with Eric Fleming and Clint Eastwood * The Navy vs. the Night Monsters (1966) * Combat - Season 5, Episode 2 - "The Losers" (1966) * I Spy - Season 2, Episode 2 - "Lori" (1966) - with Bill Cosby * Cluster - Season 1, Episode 9 - "Desperate Mission" (1967) * Medical Center - Season 1, Episode 0 - "U.M.C." (1969) - with Richard Bradford and Edward G. Robinson * The Bold Ones: The Protectors - Season 1, Episode 6 - "Memo from the Class of '76" (1970) - with Leslie Neilsen * Dusty and Sweet McGee (1971) * Werewolves on Wheels (1971) * The Father Knows Best Reunion (1977) * Father Knows Best: Home for Christmas (1977) * Love and Bullets (1979) * Porklips Now (1980) * The Vampyre Wars (1996) ---- Category:Curley Regular Category:Male Rascals Category:Our Gang Actors